PATIENTS in East Lancashire could be getting different standards of treatment from doctors than people elsewhere in the county.

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle says that because different health authorities receive separate funding they can choose to spend it in different ways.

This means that people in one part of the county can receive better or worse treatment than elsewhere, depending on what priority their health authority has placed on different illnesses and operations.

Mr Hoyle's complaints were prompted when one of his constituents, suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, in Chorley was not given treatment in the area, while a relative, who suffers from the same disease and lives in the Blackpool area, was offered treatment free of charge.

He said: "It is ludicrous that two people can go to the same hospital, with the same medical problem, to see the same doctor, and while one is treated the other is refused because they live in different parts of Lancashire.

"Health authorities decide what to spend their money on and increasingly they are choosing different priorities.

"Because of different levels of funding and varying health demands in different areas, some treatments may not be available in one area but are in another.

"This unequal situation has to stop. I have written to the Secretary of State for Health, Frank Dobson, urging him to undertake a review of the health authority structure in Lancashire.

"Everyone in Lancashire has an equal right to the best health care possible, regardless of their postcode."

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